Whole is less than the sum of it's parts

Rating: 6/10 (23 December 2005)

This film had a lot going for it on paper. It has a good cast, cool futuristic scenery, good FX, and even some cool ideas for the future (carbon nanotube cables for suspended trains, that's cool. hadn't thought of that). The movie even had a great concept. They could really have done something with this list of ingredients. Sadly they didn't really make the best use of resources. The movie was good, but not great. Just above average, which is why I rated it a 6 (though I'd probably give it a 6.5 if IMDb supported half points, which it should IMO). But I rate tough too. I've never given a 10 and probably won't. After all, 10 is perfect.
This movie reminds me of the sad trend towards mediocrity in Hollywood in the last 10-15 years. A good example of this are the Phillip K. Dick novels that have been done. Bladerunner was well done (yes, I know it was a very loose paraphrase of the novel for you purists). It was a good movie. Later PKD based movies have gone slowly downhill. Minority report for example was crapola.
It's like they take great ideas from smart, creative people, and then water them down through the Hollywood machine. Make them more PC, attempt to make them appeal to a wider audience, etc. End up with baby food.
Anyway, I wouldn't have wanted to pay full theatre prices for this, but it was more than worth the $1 Redbox rental.
The Real Tachyon